Health and safety legislation is an important part of any workplace, as it’s what keeps your employers safe at work. Introduced in 1974, Parliament signed the act as a declaration to ‘ensure so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work’ of all employees.’ As a go-to guide, produced in collaboration with United Carlton who specialise in office copier solutions, we offer you the essential need-to-know information for any employer regarding health and safety at work.

What employers need to know

As a starting basis, employers should do the following things:

• Documentation, in the form of a risk assessment, should be used when employees are involved in situations where there are potential risks present. These should be drafted in collaboration with the employees involved so that they are clear about any risks.
• Employees should know who is responsible if anything goes wrong at work, and they should also know who to contact in an emergency. This information should be given to employees verbally and also in a written format.
• Employers and employees should work together to make sure the workplace is as safe as it possibly can be at all times. By doing this, risk will always be kept to a minimum in the long term.
• With no charge to the employee, everyone should be provided with all of the health and safety training that they need.
• As well as training, employees should also be given equipment, clothing and tools free-of-charge. If this is provided, then employees can do their job safely and efficiently.
• First aid kits and employee insurance should also be provided in the unfortunate event that anything should go wrong.

Always keep an eye on these things

Training. Through working practices, are employees demonstrating that they understand the health and safety training provided for them? As well as this, are practices consistent through the day and the working week? If trained correctly, then tools and materials should be used and maintained correctly.  

Relationships with other employees. Do you employees work in a way that ensures they aren’t putting themselves or anybody else in danger? Employees should never be working on a job that may put somebody else in danger, so respect for others and conscientiousness should always be implemented within working practices to keep on top of any safety risks that may arise.

Are you an employer that listens? Remember, it’s not just your employees that need to follow health and safety standards set by legislation, it’s also you as an employer. Are you listening to the problems and risks within the workplace that employees are addressing? If not, then you need to. This is to ensure that the same problems don’t arise again; as well as this, employees should be encouraged to put forward any suggestions to senior members of staff to improve health and safety practices in the future.

Sources:

http://www.healthyworkinglives.com/advice/Legislation-and-policy/Workplace-Health-and-Safety/health-safety-legislation

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/law.pdf